Pergola Landscape – As more consumers look to expand their indoor-outdoor space, pergolas have grown in popularity. Pergolas stand out for their ability to create unique, functional and flexible outdoor spaces. With open sides and a vaulted ceiling, pergolas provide cool air, dark shade, and a strong sense of connection to the surrounding yard. Their open design creates a striking yet minimal visual impact, allowing them to fit into yards of all sizes.

Our design team has put together a guide to some of the most requested complex design features, including cost, materials, styles, alternatives and more.

Pergola Landscape

Pergolas are time-tested free outdoor structures that first appeared in Egypt around 1400 BC, and were used extensively in the middle of the seventeenth century by the Romans during the Italian Renaissance. Modern pergolas have wooden supports for a decorative, open-planned roof (as opposed to a closed roof similar to a gazebo), without walls on the ground.

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The purpose of a pergola is to block the harsh sun and let in light and fresh air. A typical pergola will not block sunlight completely, but some designs have louvers or ceiling covers to provide full shade.

Pergolas create a pleasant outdoor space that is part covered, part open. The high ceiling emphasizes the personal feeling, while the open sides maintain a strong visual relationship with the surrounding yard, making the space under the roof feel larger than its footprint. You’ll often see pergolas placed over outdoor areas designed for long-term use, such as outdoor kitchens, dining areas, or living areas.

As structural elements, pergolas are often focal points in landscape design, and they act as showpieces – a modern pergola helps everything else in your yard feel a little more modern. In practice, pergolas also provide facilities for the installation of many items (which we will examine below).

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Wooden pergolas are known for their beautiful shape and natural look. It’s easy to work with wood as a material – it takes any paint or stain, it can be shaped into decorative flowers that match traditional patterns, and it’s a good choice for DIY or custom building. All these reasons make wooden pergolas more flexible and easy to use in any type of landscaping.

Keep in mind that wooden pergolas used to be very expensive, but the price of wood is on the way up. Today, wood is a medium to high priced option for pergolas.

Although wooden pergolas allow flexibility in design, they are very durable and very maintenance-free. A fresh coat of paint or stain is needed every year or two to protect the wood from the weather.

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Fiberglass pergolas have a smoother surface and feel more polished than wood. Like wood, fiberglass can take any paint color, but it looks great in modern designs vs. Another advantage of fiberglass over wooden pergolas is that they are much stronger and more likely to be maintenance free.

Because fiberglass is so durable, it can stretch much longer than wood—up to 26 feet in some cases, which helps reduce obstructions in outdoor areas.

Aluminum pergolas have the same advantages as fiberglass – they are light, strong, flexible and suitable for modern styles, and do not require any maintenance.  Aluminum pergolas are resistant to rust and are often powder coated, so the paint color will not be peeled off by wear and tear.

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Vinyl pergolas are the lowest cost option when it comes to materials. They also show a low quality appearance because the surface looks different from wood, fiberglass or steel. Another disadvantage is that vinyl pergolas are often limited in color – you will see them offered in white or light colors.

Although vinyl pergolas are low maintenance, they are not as durable as wood, fiberglass or steel. If longevity or flexible design isn’t important to you, but price is, a vinyl pergola may be the way to go. However, there are other low-cost options to consider.

To be buried in the ground. For many pergolas, this means creating an underground concrete base for each post, although simple projects sometimes involve placing seats in existing concrete trays or slabs.

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Anchor posts need to be exactly half way down to fit the prefab beams – if you are half an inch off you need to re-set the post. For this reason, we often recommend having your pergola installed by a contractor, although there are many pergola kits. Contract installation is usually $3K to $6K above the purchase price of the pergola, but it is often worth it.

Sometimes pergolas require a permit, sometimes they don’t. City code and, if applicable, HOA requirements ultimately determine whether a permit is required.

Agreements are often required if pergolas are large, if they are attached to existing buildings, or if a concrete base is used to strengthen their seats on the ground. Contracts are often required in areas subject to snow, high winds or seismic activity. Stable roofs often require a permit.

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Pre-made pergolas often come with structural drawings that can be used when designing the pergola. This can generate significant savings by cutting the cost and hassle of hiring engineers to create licensed drawings.

Apart from materials, the type of pergola you buy will have an effect – pre-made vs. culture – at his own expense. In general, prefabricated pergolas are often less expensive than traditional structures.

With another option, don’t forget to factor in the cost of assembly and installation as well as the purchase price of the structure or materials. As mentioned above, this is usually between $3K and $6K.

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Custom pergolas vary greatly in price depending on the cost of the materials at the time, size, and anything about your design that complicates installation. The basics can be affordable, but it’s not unusual for a custom pergola to cost $20K all said and done. You can control the cost by keeping the designs clean and simple. Complex or structured designs quickly accumulate costs through increased labor requirements.

After costs in delivery and installation, prefabricated aluminum, fiberglass, and wood pergolas run from $8 to $15 for an average-size pergola. Upgrading or adding accessories can add up to $10 to this standard price range.

For a high purchase price, you usually get a high quality product that is durable and looks like a timeless piece of land. You can also get a warranty, or the option to include accessories.

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Keep in mind that kits or pre-made structures that claim to be DIY-able may not be easy to install. Many prefab pergolas seem more attractive than custom construction at first because of the low cost, but installation requires professional help, which will add to the total cost.

We think of pergolas as two main categories: traditional and modern. In short, traditional pergolas have decorative flowers, modern ones do not.

Traditional pergolas usually have ceiling beams that extend from the central pergola frame (these decorative beams are called “raft tails”). The poles can be round or square, and they can have decorations, either square or thick bases (such add to the total cost). Traditional high level pergolas can consist of square mullard wood and stone or masonry veneer.

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These decorative features are common to wooden pergola designs, but other vinyl and fiberglass pergolas offer attractive versions of the same decorative features seen here – but be sure to get a quality product.

This traditional style pergola is a prefab vinyl structure that costs less than $3k. Gravel paving and low-cost planting are other features that make this backyard renovation within a tight budget.

Modern pergolas are elegant and purposefully lacking in ornamentation. All angles are 90 degrees, and the pillars are square. Modern fiberglass and aluminum pergolas show a refined feel, like the one in the photo above.

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You can tweak modern pergolas to look more rustic by choosing a wood model and combining it with modern patio furniture.

One of our favorite uses for a pergola in landscaping is to turn a front or back patio into a porch by adding a pergola. We love this modern living room fireplace. It is widely available from most of the entrances of the houses, and it perfectly matches the style of the exterior of the house.

Modern pergolas adapt well to a variety of design styles. Today’s white pergolas especially can look integrated in a more balanced design (wooden box pictures series and Hydrangea).

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An integrated pergola makes the patio-to-porch effect even more interesting in the front yard. This beautiful wood grain creates a warm aesthetic and a functional outdoor living space.

There are ways to create the perfect shade with a pergola. Some pergolas come with adjustable louvers, allowing you to control the amount of shading below the roof. It is also common to add a fabric “pergola canopy” to pergola ceilings, as seen above.

You can also attach shade sails or retractable screens under the roof to block incoming light, but also let in the sun as needed, as seen above.

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A quality pergola can be used to hang chairs! This great fire pit seating experience, igniting the carefree vibe of a wraparound porch makes outdoor living space irresistible to friends and family.

Historically, pergolas were used for support

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